Wind Power Lacks Reliability: Money Goes to Foreign Investors

Wind Energy / Economics

Linda Paulson opines that wind power suffers from an important disadvantage that prevents it from ever becoming a dominant power source for the industrialized world in which we live. Wind is intermittent, thus it requires another, more reliable source of power, such as nuclear, hydroelectric, or fossil fuel. Some form of power must be available to pick up the slack when wind drops. The power produced by a wind turbine relates to the cube of air speed. If the wind drops in half, the turbine output is cut by a factor of eight. And if the wind dies completely ...well, you already know the answer. No matter what, wind absolutely requires conventional power in order to operate. These wind projects leak energy, the farther they are positioned from the conventional power source. Why pay for a stopgap system that leaks power? Why give private wind industry investors massive PTC (production tax credits), and back door IRS tax credits that directly add to our exploding Federal Deficit of $566 Billion (2016)? As we know, all of these credits are part of the Clean Power Plan, an egregious overreach that will result in an increasingly unreliable power source.

The recent closing of the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant, Wisconsin was an outcome, which will result in unreliable power for ratepayers in that region. In 2010, wind energy received 42% of total federal subsidies while producing only 2% of the U.S. total electricity. Would you make that investment in your business? The Federal Government is reaching into both your life and your pockets. The Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University found that as of 2010, 84% of total clean-energy grants awarded by the federal government went to foreign-owned wind companies. Do you really want your tax dollars that pay for these wind project developments to go to foreigners? Ask the wind developer to examine all of their financial and management books? Why are they privately held and not publicly traded? Think on ...

Original URL: https://bowmanextra.com/2016/02/19/letter-wind-power-lacks-reliability-money-goes-to-foreign-investors/